Chapter 37.2- And so the Dragons Danced

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In the end, it took another half an hour of talking before all of them capitulated and agreed with the plan. They still didn’t trust Long Feng as far as they could throw him- considering they were a collection of lanky and frail Generals, that wasn’t very far to begin with. Something about the thought of someone betraying their nation- even if to help us- just didn’t sit right with them. It pressed home just how deeply the nationalistic spirit went when it came to the Fire Nation. A pro, and a con in some ways.

Still, they finally relented and now I stood with a collection of troops. I’d lost the bulk of my men in the attack but in the time since taking Ba Sing Se, I’d had people scouring the surrounding land mass and wreckage. Only dozens remained from my thousands, but those dozens still formed the core of the men I’d be taking into the palace. Each General had been allowed to bring their three best, and I’d brought twelve. A not so subtle way to drive home the impression that any glory gained here would be by my will and no other’s.

I took a breath in. Long Feng poked his head from the ground and opened up a tunnel. I took a breath out and began to walk ri9n with the others. As always, I led from the front. We’d placed Long Feng through a series off tests to ascertain his loyalty after the brainwashing so I was confident that he was my man through and through. Still, a part of me screamed out that this man was an enemy. Not just any enemy, one-half of those who had come close to defeating me. General Kali, his partner in that had since perished. I’d given her the best possible accommodations while maintaining her status as a prisoner, but it should have been no surprise that part of the army had taken things into their own hands in dealing with her.

I still had no idea who exactly had killed her. I never even got a chance to interrogate her claims about being related to Bumi of all fucking people. She’d just been stabbed through the heart with nothing to show for it. Toji was investigating but I didn’t have much hope that he’d get anything. Especially since I couldn’t raise much of a stink and definitely couldn’t push for enhanced interrogation of suspects at this point.

The tunnel wasn’t lit, but I was a fire bender. A flick of my wrist had a steady flame floating above my palm. A steady orange flame, interesting enough. All my attempts to conjure the green fire again had failed. I hadn’t yet attempted anything too grand and was saving that till I was more established in my control over the city. Taking the palace would be a good first step in achieving that goal, at the very least.

The wall opened up at a nondescript point and we were in the palace proper. “Lead them to the throne room” I ordered Long Feng while I turned to seek out the Princess with my own troops.

Toph widened her stance and stabbed her hands into the wall in the motion she used when she wanted to extend her senses as far as possible. “I’ve found the Princess” She said next.

“Good. And the commander of this mess?” I asked.

“Yes. Four floors above us.”

“Give Toji the precise directions, please. Toji, take Hiroshi, Aiko, Kenji, Yuki, Sakura, Mizuki, and Amara with you. I’ll take Toph and the others.” I said, and began turning in the direction Toph gestured the Princess with. My original group of 13, was quickly cut down to four. Just Toph, Takeshi, Maki and I would move to ‘rescue’ the princess.

We made it down two hallways unmolested, and by the time we had turned into the third, the alarm had been sounded. Either Toji or the Generals had played their hand. My money was on the Generals. Well, this had never been intended to be much of a stealth mission in the first place, I thought with a smile, as I erupted from the tapestry I’d been hiding behind and punched through one of the passing guards while kicking the other’s weapon out of his grip.

A/N: In-progress, aye?